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Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#101

Post by otalp »

The Conquest of Bread, Peter Kropotkin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Bread

It was written in the backdrop of massive industrialisation.

Many argue that it predicted both:

(1) the problems with capitalism and massive state protection of private property that go along with it, as well as

(2) the atrocities that would occur if most production was centralised, as in the USSR.

Anarchism, Libertarian Socialism and the anti-authoritarian left is definitely an overlooked branch of the political spectrum

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#102

Post by tonyedgecombe »

gjango wrote: post #94

I've seen Meditations being mentioned a lot on this thread but for me, 'letters from a stoic' (or 'moral letters to lucillius' ) by Seneca has been more approachable than Meditations.

I've got two translations of Meditations, one was fairly easy to digest (Hayes), the other was terrible.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#103

Post by pimmen »

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

It might be a bit of a cliche but it really is profound and is actually more useful than I first thought. Especially "show strength at your weakest, show weakness at your strongest" is something that I've used during negotations and presentations. It sounds like common sense when you read it, because you've seen a lot of this stuff work out ahead of reading it, but it's only once you read it that it becomes abstract and defined enough for me to apply it.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#107

Post by wazoox »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #90

The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.

This. I remember when I started reading the tome (1800 pages IIRC) someday, 30 years ago. I simply couldn't put it down, literally. I went on reading almost non stop for 2 days and 3 nights, barely sleeping.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#109

Post by wazoox »

ChrisSD wrote: post #47

Since many other people have mentioned ancient essays I like, I'll go for something more "modern". Some of Bertrand Russell's earlier works are well worth a read even though they're obviously dated. * The Problems of Philosophy (1912) gives a short introduction to philosophy that he at the time considered "positive and constructive". https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm * Mysticism and Logic and Oth…

His History of Western Philosophy is really great, too.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?

#110

Post by wazoox »

powersnail wrote: post #76

Les Misérables. First read it when I was in elementary school. It was a beautiful, touching piece. Not only did it tell a story, but also it presented the whole cultural background upon which the story occurred. Every time I read the book, I learn something new. In elementary school, I was mostly moved by Jean Valjean's resilience, calmness, and competency. Later on, I started to appreciate the humanity shown in othe…

Notre-Dame de Paris is great too, and similarly deep in historical and cultural reconstruction.
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